Tag Archives: public relations

The truth is, if you wait until off-season to look at your business’s PR strategy and start promoting, you’re doing your business a huge disservice. While the busy season workload takes up the bulk of your time, your PR strategy shouldn’t take a back seat. WeddingWire Education Expert and owner of OFD Consulting, Meghan Ely, gave us four rules for mastering PR during busy season with only a small time commitment each day.

Keep momentum going

It’s not a rule, but rather a guideline to help you follow the rules. Keeping up momentum is crucial if you want to maximize your time and PR strategy efficiently. Meghan says she sees it all too often: wedding professionals drop their PR strategy for busy season and pick it back up in November when the season ends. However, come November, you are going to be sitting on a pile of work that will make you more stressed than you thought handling it during the season would!

Instead of dealing with the mountain of PR work you’ve accumulated throughout the season, tackle the opportunities as they come in. Not only will this keep you sane in the long run, but it will also help eliminate competition. By neglecting your PR strategy until November, you subsequently end up competing with every other wedding professional who followed the same ‘strategy’. Suddenly, come November, the PR branch of the wedding industry is crowded with everyone playing catch-up. Ultimately, there is a lot less “noise” to compete with during busy season, and it’s in your favor to never lose momentum.

Rule 1: Stick to the low-hanging fruit

During busy season, you want to do things that will increase your brand awareness and showcase your portfolio… and this doesn’t have to be hard or take copious amounts of time! RealWeds submissions are one of those easy-to-do tasks that can have a tremendous effect on publicizing your brand. RealWeds are a great option to focus on because you already have a steady stream of content coming in from all of the weddings that you do— why not utilize that to its fullest potential?

Typically, photographers, venues, event designers, planners and florists are the ones submitting the majority of RealWeds content, however, if you don’t fall into one of these vendor categories, you aren’t excluded from submitting! Be sure to reach out to the other vendors who worked on the wedding to see if you can do a “group” submission, or have permission granted to use their photos (if they were the photographer) or photos of their work (if they are a vendor whose work is featured in pictures of your work) in your submission.

Rule 2: Stay organized

Many people neglect RealWeds submissions during busy season because they can take a lot of time to submit, however, they shouldn’t so long as you cover your bases and stay organized. Working RealWeds submissions into your client contracts is a great way to speed things up, as this way, you aren’t chasing after couples once they are married to get their permission.

Additionally, this opens up the conversation with the couple to find out what other vendors they are working with. Getting other vendor information as early as possible is going to help you track down other vendor’s whose permission you might also need in order to submit before the submission crunch. Meghan recommends connecting with the photographer and planner 30-60 days before the wedding to ensure that you can submit.

Rule 3: Create a workflow

Meghan’s best tip for managing your PR strategy during busy season? Embrace apps and programs to manage your work! Programs like Dropbox that can manage files and to-do list apps, like Basecamp, can help keep you organized and create a workflow. Another tip? Utilize block scheduling! Time might be limited during busy season, but if you schedule a fair amount of it each week to work exclusively on PR, there is no excuse for not working on it.

Rule 4: Be realistic

The last rule? You have to be realistic! If you can’t dedicate three hours a week to your PR strategy, then setting the goal to send in 10 RealWeds submissions, pitch multiple media outlets and maintain your press relationships, isn’t realistic. By setting realistic goals, you will be motivated to keep pushing forward and won’t beat yourself up about not reaching them.

You should always be asking yourself these three questions to determine if you are being realistic with your goals:

What got accomplished? What didn’t?

How can I adjust my organization/workflow?

Was it worth the effort?

…But not so fast!

Now that you have the rules about how to best manage your PR during busy season, don’t dive in. Building a strong PR strategy that will endure even the craziest of busy season ups-and-downs takes a considerable amount of time to plan. Before you begin, take a good look at your website, your galleries and your social feeds. What is the point of directing people to your site or branding outlets when they are not where you want them to be? Take a close look at what you are working with, evaluate where you want to go, make any adjustments that you need to to get there, and then dive in.

It can be hard managing your PR strategy during busy season. However, so long as you follow these rules and are prepared to charge into the season with a strong PR strategy in place, you should be set to see the benefits of it. Keep momentum going, set realistic goals, and dedicate the time you need to implement good plans, and there should be no doubt that your PR strategy will be a success this season. Good luck!

These tips originally appeared in WeddingWire’s Webinar “Build Your Reputation by Earning Publicity (Even During Busy Season!)” with Meghan Ely, WeddingWire Education Expert and owner of wedding PR firm OFD Consulting. You can view the webinar recording through your account.

Posted by Emilie Smith | April 30, 2018 | Comments Off on How to Create the Ultimate Media List

This article was written by Education Expert, Meghan Ely, OFD Consulting

Before launching a new PR campaign to publicize your wedding business, it is wise to research and carefully select the media that will receive your pitches and hopefully share your work and wisdom. A media wish list is more than just a collection of outlets and names in your genre; it is actually a set of goals for your campaigns, and the outline of your overall plan to gain attention and exposure. The ultimate media list takes time and research to create, but as the secret weapon behind your PR efforts, it can be pure gold.

Evaluate your goals

Every powerful media list starts with research. Use your market research to create a profile of your perfect clients. Understand who they are, what their level of education is, what they eat and read and enjoy. Know their habits – do they watch local morning television or the evening news? Do they use Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? Do they read alumni publications, special interest magazines, or popular blogs?

Understanding the behavior and psychology behind your ideal clients will help you determine which media outlets are strategically valuable, and which are not. You have limited time and effort to expend pitching media, so your list must be curated and your attempts strategic.

Craft a message

I have to emphasize how important it is that you craft an appealing message that answers your target’s needs and communicates something about your business that you want them to know. You’re creating a connection with your prospects, but your opportunity to influence with each press mention is brief, so you want your message to be clear, powerful and on point.

Consider what you have to share. Is it images of your recent work, great advice or an introduction of a product or service new to your market? Can you make relevant commentary on a current event or do you have a special connection to a popular trend? What do you have to offer that will intrigue your prospects enough to act and impress editors enough to include you?

Choose your target media

You have a profile of your ideal prospects and a message you want them to hear. Who should you pitch? At first, you’ll have a broad list of media of all kinds: blogs, magazines, local TV shows, national TV shows, radio and association publications to name just a few. Narrow the field by thinking of which ones appeal to your ideal prospects. Which match up to your profile? Put yourself in your prospects’ shoes and think of their lifestyle habits to help you determine where they receive their messages.

Reach out

It’s not always easy to predict which media will have the influence you are looking for, especially if your ideal client is different from you. When you don’t know, ask! Contact your current clients or happy past couples and ask them about their habits. Ask how they found you can how they tell their friends about you. Build on your current success.

Collect pertinent information

Once you have created a list, gather contact information to make it easy to pursue each lead when you have something to share. You’ll need the publication name, point of contact, email address, submission requirements and known deadlines which should be added to your editorial calendar. Staying organized will increase the efficiency of your efforts and yield greater results.

I know it seems like a lot of work, and may even appear to be a step that can be skipped, but curating your ultimate media list is a powerful way to focus your efforts and achieve ultimate success. Take the time now and you will reap the rewards in successful press down the road.

Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding marketing and wedding PR firm OFD Consulting, which specializes in getting wedding professionals their brides. She is a highly sought after industry speaker and serves as a Public Relations adjunct professor for Virginia Commonwealth University, specializing in PW writing and brand promotion.

This article was written by Education Expert, Meghan Ely, OFD Consulting

Being the wise wedding professional that you are, you know you need a PR plan. You realize that great press equals great clients and an increase in your standing among your peers in the industry. It’s just that making a plan seems so hard.

Putting off the PR plan you could create today until tomorrow may seem like it’s saving you time and effort at the moment. In the long run, though, it really just pushes off attaining your dreams further into the future. You deserve better than that and you know it. Instead of procrastinating, start with these steps to get your PR plan underway today.

Take stock

Begin by assessing your business. What do your clients love about you? To whom do you appeal now, and to whom would you like to in the future? Who is your ideal client? How do people find you? If you could reach the ones who have never heard of you, what is the first thing you would want them to know? Before you can launch a PR campaign, you need to answer these questions, refine your message and pinpoint your desired audience.

Make a wish list

Next, dive deep into the internet and social media and create a wish list of the outlets you plan to target. It’s not enough to just list the ones you enjoy reading or visiting. Make sure you identify the publishers that reach your ideal customers – using the demographic information you compiled.

Maximize efficiency through organization

Even if it isn’t your strong suit, staying organized has become much easier with advances in technology. These leaps forward currently take the form of online apps and tools to help keep you on top of your game. I personally love Wufoo to collect couple’s wedding day information, Basecamp as project management software to keep us moving along with our daily to do’s and Boomerang, which sends reminders to me to follow up with emails I’ve sent that have not received replies.

Promote your results

Once you are successful at publishing a real wedding or contributing your expertise to an industry article, you’ll want to promote your success. First, send a thank you note to the editor or publisher to solidify your relationship for the future. Then, get the word out on social media. If you have your own blog, craft a post about the piece and include a link to the full piece. By promoting the piece, you’ll be magnifying the spotlight on your business and helping create valuable Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website and your publisher’s as well.

Ultimately, avoiding creating a plan can only hurt your business, not help it. Make a point of ensuring your future success by creating a PR plan and beginning to check off related tasks today!

Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding PR and wedding marketing firm OFD Consulting. Ely is a sought-after speaker, adjunct professor in the field of public relations, and a self-professed royal wedding enthusiast.

Posted by Emilie Smith | January 18, 2018 | Comments Off on How to Streamline Your PR in 2018

This article was written by Education Expert, Meghan Ely, OFD Consulting

During this time of the year, most wedding professionals are enjoying the beginning of a slower season when event work eases up and the business of running a business takes priority. When you are knee-deep in busy season, it’s so easy to get excited about PR and all of the exposure you know comes with it, but it can easily fall to the backburner when one of a million more pressing issues crops up.

The downtime of the slower season is a great time to streamline your PR for the coming year and make sure it becomes part of your week-to-week workflow. Don’t miss out on opportunities to promote your business through targeted pitches to prime publishers by simply putting the time in now.

The following steps are time-tested ways to streamline your PR and get ready for the coming year:

Implement block scheduling

Block scheduling is a method of time management in which you evaluate your priority tasks and pre-schedule the amount of time you are going to devote to each one and how often (i.e. on daily, weekly or monthly basis). I recommend committing to at least one hour per week to engage in PR-related activities, whether that means assembling a media list, creating pitches or submitting proposals for speaking engagements. Set aside the time you plan to invest in PR and during that time focus exclusively on it. Don’t get distracted by social media, your phone, email, your children or even your cat. Make your PR time power time.

Use HARO

HARO (helpareporter.com) is the go-to site for matching your amazing stories and expertise with press looking for something to report about. Commit 10 minutes every business day to scanning HARO and acting on opportunities that have potential.

Preview upcoming weddings and make predictions

Look ahead at the weddings you have in the works. Which ones have publishing potential or meet editorial requests? Start gathering what you would need if you decided to submit them now. Coordinate with your photographer, get client permission, obtain and process the backstory information from your couple and their vendors. Do the tedious tasks that normally stand in the way of completing important projects while you still have the time and are focused on the benefits.

Explore ways to make your life easier

Sounds like a pretty great step, right? Think about your pain points and then ask yourself if there are any apps, programs or changes you can make that will alleviate them. Some may take a small investment, or you may need to learn to use them, but if they perform necessary tasks and save you time that you can use to address something that really needs you, they are invaluable.

The slow season is your best opportunity to put in place procedures and systems you need to make you a superhero of PR all year long. Follow these simple steps and focus on the desired outcome. Your efforts now will most certainly yield PR rock star-level results in the not-too-distant future.

Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding PR and wedding marketing firm OFD Consulting. Ely is a sought-after speaker, adjunct professor in the field of public relations, and a self-professed royal wedding enthusiast.

This article was written by Education Expert, Meghan Ely, OFD Consulting

With the end of the year upon us, it’s a great time to sit down and start mapping out your public relations efforts for 2018. For event professionals, real wedding submissions should be a big part of your strategy. It’s an effective way to get your brand in front of the audiences you’re seeking, and helps to establish you as an influencer in the industry.

Don’t know where to start? Let’s take a look at some of my top tips to follow for submitting.

Get permission

Before you do anything else, you want to make sure that you have not only the photographer’s permission but the client as well. The easiest way to do this is by including it in their contract, but we also recommend talking to them about it beforehand so you know they are on board from the beginning.

Do your homework

This may come as a surprise, but not every blog is right for every wedding. When deciding where to send a submission, sit down and do some research on which blogs are going to be the

right fit. For example, it wouldn’t make sense to send a black tie luxury wedding to a blog that heavily features rustic backyard celebrations. Be sure that you can find complementary events that are recent (within the last year) so you know what the editor is looking for.

It’s all about the details

When selecting images you’re planning to include in the submission, you want to think about it with the editor’s point of view in mind. Remember that they are trying to inspire their readers with trends and fresh ideas, so they will generally give preference to those who include lots of details. You may have adored the couple and want to see their faces all over the feature, but that isn’t what’s going to catch an editor’s eye.

Follow the rules

The biggest mistake you can make when submitting is not following the guidelines for each publication. There is no exact formula to follow, each outlet is distinct and will have different requirements. From image sizing to number of photos to sharing programs, no two are exactly the same. Be sure that you are checking the directions each time you submit a wedding to ensure that you haven’t missed anything.

Develop the story

While the photos will tell part of the story, it’s the couple themselves that editor’s want to hear about. The detail photos are important, but they want to know why the couple selected them, and what personal touches they included. For us, we have a questionnaire that is sent out to couples asking them details about their wedding like inspiration, DIY projects and how they met/got engaged. The couple will love getting involved in the process, and the editor will appreciate all of the detail you have included in the submission.

Include the team

No event is made great by just one person. It takes a team of vendors to bring everything together and make it a success. It’s important that when submitting a wedding you give credit where credit is due by including everyone that was involved. If the wedding gets published, they will appreciate the recognition, and will likely promote it themselves, increasing exposure for your business in turn.

With these tips in mind, you’re sure to kick your 2018 PR plan off with a bang!

Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding PR and wedding marketing firm OFD Consulting. Ely is a sought-after speaker, adjunct professor in the field of public relations, and a self-professed royal wedding enthusiast.

This article was written by Education Expert, Meghan Ely, OFD Consulting

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the UK’s Prince Harry is marrying American actress, Meghan Markle in May 2018. That’s right friends: it’s another royal wedding!

If you’re anything like me, your initial reaction was probably to pull out your commemorative china, don a fascinator and toast the engagement with a cup of your best Earl Grey. Or, if you are just a little bit less obsessed, you at least had a moment of recognition that the media coverage of all things bespoke is guaranteed to be constant and overwhelming through May and beyond. Either way, as a wedding professional it’s time to celebrate because this is a major opportunity to leverage your expertise in return for some valuable publicity – even if you don’t know the first thing about making a proper fruit cake.

The fact is that from now until May, media outlets will be hungry for stories, either directly related to or inspired by the engagement. Now is the time to get your name out there and take full advantage of this gift. Kate and Will married in OFD’s second year, and I was able to turn that into national TV coverage! Good Morning America actually sent a team to film my royal wedding viewing party – one of the Crown Jewels (pardon the pun) of my own early publicity. It was, and still is, all about timing, experience and enthusiasm.

So, what can you do to get your piece of the royal publicity pie?

Reach out to your local mediaIf you’re already seeing coverage of the royal wedding locally, even if it’s just the engagement announcement, hunt down the writers on the beat and email them now. Introduce yourself and establish your wedding expertise, along with your willingness to chime in.

Leverage content on your own website and social mediaOne of the biggest challenges people have with blogging is coming up with content, so take advantage of the global attention and create an ongoing blog theme related to it. Include your observations, predictions and commentary.

Sign up for HARO
If you haven’t done so already- keep an eye out for wedding related inquiries, which are bound to increase as the fervor builds.

Plan an inspiration shootIf you don’t feel comfortable putting yourself out there as an expert, go ahead and at least consider your own fun shoot inspired by the royal wedding. Dare to be different, but make sure it complements themes and elements predicted for the upcoming nuptials (remember that editors need to be able to connect the dots). The wedding is in May, so start submitting by March, at the latest.

Have fun!Host a local viewing party and invite all of your wedding friends. It’s a great way to ramp up the wedding season and make deeper connections.

There is no reason to fear royal wedding madness – this is a great time to be in our industry. Prepare for an adventure, because this will definitely be one of your most entertaining wedding seasons yet.

Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding PR and wedding marketing firm OFD Consulting. Ely is a sought-after speaker, adjunct professor in the field of public relations, and a self-professed royal wedding enthusiast.

With engagement season upon us, it’s important to set the stage and make your online presence known. You can expect an influx of media outlets producing more wedding related content since it’s the prime time of year for newly engaged couples to be searching for evergreen wedding planning topics. With that being said, the media will be on the hunt for expert resources, and having an online newsroom on your website can help get you noticed quicker and by more people.

What is an online newsroom?

The concept of online newsrooms has evolved over time from the idea of amedia kit, which is typically a packet of information that gets disseminated to the media. However, in recent years they have moved away from sending a hard copy to a PDF. With research being done almost exclusively online now, it makes sense that wedding pros are ditching their traditional kits and instead creating a page on their website dedicated entirely to providing their information to the media.

What does it look like?

Your online newsroom should look a lot like your media kit did, but an online version. Include things like a high-res headshot, your bio, any affiliations you have, accreditations, and all of your contact information (if you’re represented by a publicist be sure to include their contact information as well).

You’ll also want to showcase a little bit of who you are and what you’ve done. Think recent press you’ve been featured in and press releases from the last year (if you have them). Be creative with your press. Search online for examples of how other companies are highlighting where they’ve been featured (like WeddingWire’sPress Center) and apply that inspiration to your own page.

What’s the goal?

When putting together your online newsroom, the goal you should be aiming for is that when a member of the media clicks on it, they know you’re an expert in your field within a few seconds. If they have to look around for too long they may move on to other sources with more readily available material.

An online newsroom is a great way to get members of the media to love you. They will appreciate how easy you made it to get in touch, and it could lead to future press opportunities for you and your business.

Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding PR and wedding marketing firm OFD Consulting. Ely is a sought-after speaker, adjunct professor in the field of public relations, and a self-professed royal wedding enthusiast.

As the holidays begin to approach you can almost feel it coming…engagement season is just around the corner. Happy couples excited about launching into their wedding planning will be discovering you daily through your online presence. So you must ask yourself: Is my press page ready?

One of the best tools at your disposal to capture press about your company and promote it long after the publish date is a press page that features links to your recent mentions and serves as testimony to the recognition you have received.

You work hard year-round to keep your PR strategy on track and your name in front of the right audience and you don’t want to let an out of date press page weaken your overall publicity strategy. So, gear up for engagement season and prep your press page now.

Audit Your Online Footprint

Before couples start to search for your services, take a long, hard look at your press page and ask yourself the following questions:

Is your page current? It’s easy to let things slip in the busy season, so make sure you’ve collected your press from the last year.

Is it easy to navigate? Your press page should be simple, yet impactful. It should showcase your top press with links to the coverage as appropriate. Don’t make couples hunt and peck to find what you want them to see.

Does it highlight my top press? It’s a common mistake to put the page in chronological order, but that’s not ideal. You need to include a mix of press, with the majority of features from the past year and with your very best press near the top. Prioritize highly trafficked sites and those that will impress prospects the most.

Is it consistent with the couples I want to attract? Another mistake is to believe that you must include every single press mention you’ve ever received. At a minimum, you need three features on your page, but you can certainly include more. When deciding what to use and what to trim, focus on the press that will attract your target prospects and help convert them to booked business.Do all of the links work? This is the time to test them out!

Review Your Social Media Press Promotion

You should also evaluate how you promote your press with social media. Different platforms have their own specific press pages, such as:

Facebook: Create an album dedicated exclusively to press about your business. Upload screenshots and scans or links to magazine features and credit the sources accordingly. Also, tag the wedding day team that helped the day come together.

Pinterest:Create a board dedicated to pins of your press.

Instagram: Consider a branded hashtag that relates to your company and press. Use your phone and take a screenshot of online features or take a photo of print pages and share them in a post.

Make sure that prospective clients can easily find an up-to-date and powerful representation of the press you’ve worked so hard to receive. Review your press page now and make any necessary updates and upgrades before engagement season begins.

Exclusive Wedding PR Education Expert for WeddingWire Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding PR agency OFD Consulting. She also leads the newly launched OFD Collective, a membership based community of wedding professionals seeking PR education and publicity opportunities for their business.

Posted by Whitney Teal | June 14, 2017 | Comments Off on Wedding PR: How to Shine a Spotlight on Your Business

Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding PR and wedding marketing firm OFD Consulting. Ely is a sought-after speaker, adjunct professor in the field of public relations, and a self-professed royal wedding enthusiast. She recently launched the OFD Collective, a wedding PR membership site that offers continuing education, press opportunities and real wedding submissions.

So, you’re doing amazing work and want people to know about it, right? Whole new audiences deserve to know your brand is ready to take over the world, but you need a way to reach them. Perhaps you want to establish yourself as an industry leader, and well, frankly, increasing your sales wouldn’t hurt either. A strategic and well-implemented public relations (PR) campaign is exactly what you need!

What Is Wedding PR?

Smart pros turn to wedding PR when they have a message they want to get out to a target audience and media is the main channel for communicating that message. It is distinct from two other popular forms of promotion: advertising and marketing, both of which have their merits, too.

The big difference between PR and advertising is that the latter takes place in a controlled setting. Typically, you pay to control the content, placement and space used. With PR, you are at the mercy of the editor, so what you promote must be positioned to grab attention in a noisy world.

Marketing focuses on specific details such as product, prices and packaging. PR, in contrast, is all about the newsworthy story.

What You Must Consider in Advance

When pursuing a PR campaign, there are some important advance considerations. You’ll need to ensure that:

Your brand is exactly what you want it to be. When your PR campaign sends people to your site, you want them to find the right messaging and are far more likely to convert to sales.

You have evaluated your goals and are campaigning for the right reasons.

You know how to assess your analytics. Make sure you’re able to track how prospects find you through web analytics and contact forms that ask how they heard about you and your business.

Great PR takes effort and planning, so don’t neglect these considerations. Give them due consideration, check them off your list then follow up by choosing the right outlet for your message.

Pitch Wisely

To determine the right fit, you have to make sure that the media you pursue will actually connect you with your target audience, otherwise your efforts may gain you attention, but not the attention you need to achieve your goals.

Where to Begin: Real Weddings

A good place to start is with real wedding submissions, considered the low-hanging fruit of PR as they are heavily and regularly in demand. Real weddings promote your product and services to couples, but are also great for helping develop professional relationships and sources of referrals. Be prepared with permission to publish, complete background stories from the couple and vendor lists, and a list of important deadlines and publisher specifications. And always choose real weddings that promote the kind of work you want to attract. RealWeds.com, WeddingWire’s submission website, is a great place to start.

If you’re a great writer (or have one on staff), you might consider pursuing guest blogging opportunities as well. Editors love an outside perspective and access to great content that their readers will love. Don’t hesitate to reach out when you have something to offer to an audience you want to meet.

HARO

When you are ready to expand beyond real weddings, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with Help A Reporter Out (better known as HARO, or the PR guru’s Secret Sauce!). Every day, multiple times each day, HARO sends out a completely free digest of requests from legitimate reporters seeking sources for digital, print and television news features. Topics are high interest and enormously varied, and wedding-related pieces come up frequently. Monitor HARO regularly, and when you see an opportunity that you know is a great fit that will further your goals, follow the directions for contacting the reporter and share your expert commentary or advice as requested. Some truly amazing opportunities originate on HARO, and you’re certainly a perfect fit for one (or more) of them.

Ready to Begin?

Once you’ve honed your goals and message, chosen your target media, and prepared your pitches, the only to-do left is to put yourself out there! Don’t wait to take your business to the next level. Start today!

Posted by Whitney Teal | March 9, 2017 | Comments Off on Hiring an Intern: What You Need to Know

If you’re in a place where you are in need of a little extra help, but don’t quite have the resources or budget to hire a publicity firm, it might be the right time to bring in a PR intern. Eager college students and recent graduates can bring new perspective and fresh ideas that can really benefit your business and make your daily life a lot more manageable.

With that, let’s take a look at what tips you need to know:

First and foremost, before sending anything out, educate yourself and make sure you are up-to-date on the laws and regulations associated with hiring a paid or unpaid intern.

How to Find One

When you are ready to promote your search for an intern, there are several ways you can go about it. Make sure you are diversifying your methods, and not relying on just one avenue. Word-of-mouth is an underestimated but very effective way to find new people. In fact, some of my best interns have come from friends in the industry referring people they knew. Post the job details on all of your social media accounts, as well as your blog if you have one – be sure that you’re including a link to the full job description and details.

Getting in touch with the local colleges and universities that have PR, marketing, communications, or hospitality programs is another great way to connect with potential applicants. Ask how they promote internships and see if you can get posted on their job boards, social media, etc. You could even take it one step further by connecting with professors in those programs and getting them to spread the word.

Communicating the Job

The description of the internship should be very clear about what the internship will entail—you want the responsibilities to be well-defined. The last thing you want is to have a disappointed intern who, for example, didn’t realize they would be doing admin work at an event planning company. Every company has different needs, but a basic description could look something like this:

Specific duties of the intern vary each year depending on new issues and marketing objectives, but could include: writing marketing pieces; social media management (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Blogging); assisting with activities during events; appointment confirmations; involvement in promotions and research and providing staff support.

Make sure the description matches your brand and gets everyone excited. If you want the best, you’ll be competing with all sorts of other job opportunities.

The Interview Process

Once you’ve got a solid pool of applicants, you’ll want to bring them in for a formal interview. Personally, I like the meeting to be in person, but if the position is remote or current schedules won’t permit, Skype is a good alternative. Begin by explaining what the company is, how the need for an intern came to be, and a little bit more depth into the responsibilities of the position. During the ‘questions’ portion of the interview, stay away from yes or no questions. This is your chance to get to know them, their experience, how prepared they came for the interview, and really get a feel for how well they would fit. Some questions to consider might be:

Tell us about your interest in the position. What drew you to our company?

Tell us about what kind of experience you have in relation to the position

Where do you see yourself after graduating/or in the next five years?

Once you’ve selected your candidate (hooray!), be sure to do an orientation (i.e. an everything-you-need-to-know meeting). At our company, we break the orientation day into different training sessions that start with the basics and works its way into the more complicated aspects of the position. Be sure you remain open minded while they are learning; for some, this may be their first ‘on-the-job’ experience and you are a resource for them while they learn. With these tips in your pocket, hiring a stellar intern should be just around the corner!